Vaccinations And Its Effect On The Health Of Kids Across The Country

Herd immunity exists when the maximum amount of people are vaccinated, reducing the risk of infection for people at serious risk (i.e. immunocompromised adults, chemotherapy patients, or newborns). When fewer people are unvaccinated, a disease has fewer hosts to spread to. At this point, most states allow vaccination exemption for religious or “moral” conflicts in addition to medical reasons. People who exempt vaccines

Currently, all fifty U.S. states offer a medical exemption from vaccinations. This means that someone could be exempt from receiving one or all of the vaccines based on medical necessity. For example, those who have compromised or weakened immune systems should be able to get a medical exemption. These exemptions require permission from a medical physician and getting them is difficult as most doctors in the mainstream medical community support and encourage vaccinations. There are two other types of exemptions – religious and philosophical. As of October 2016, three states – California, West Virginia, and Mississippi do not offer either of these. They are medical exemption states only. Of the remaining states, 32 of them offer medical and religious exemptions. Only the remaining 18 states offer all three exemptions. These numbers are decreasing as more and

To vaccinate or not to vaccinate? Parents with infants and young children have been tussling with this proverbial question for several decades now. With the advent of the internet and the World Wide Web, parents have been bombarded with a plethora of information about pros and cons of vaccines from all kinds of sources, some creditable, and some are not. To the non-scientific community, these conflicting information can create problems in the decision making process; thus, forcing parents to make the wrong choices and putting their offspring and others at risk. However, this article will attempt to address the importance of vaccinations, how vaccines work, why we should vaccinate, and why parents should not be afraid to vaccinate their offspring.

On June 30, 2015, California governor Jerry Brown signed the new version of Senate Bill 277, which eliminated California 's personal belief exemption. These laws create a very low bar for parents to obtain an exemption. Often they simply have to check a box stating they don’t want to vaccinate their children, and that is sufficient. States with personal belief exemptions have 2.5 times the vaccine refusal rate as states with religious exemptions only. Essentially, the easier it is to obtain a vaccine exemption, the lower the vaccination rate. Personal belief exemption rates have gone up dramatically since 1994. During a survey done by Alexander Capron for his medical journal, “Personal Beliefs Exemption from Mandatory Immunization of Children for School Entry”, in 1994, schools on average had 0.6% of kindergarten students claiming personal belief exemptions; by 2009, the number was 2.3%. By the 2013–2014 school year, schools, on average, had 3.15% of kindergarten students claiming personal belief exemptions. While these percentages may seem low, they are not evenly distributed: Some communities have much higher rates, and a recent research paper demonstrated that those communities were most vulnerable to outbreaks.

Is it fair to not vaccinate children because we don’t want to? Because they do not need to and they will not get sick? No. It is not fair to not vaccinate children because they won’t get sick. By not vaccinating children you are doing others harm. Every child has a different immune system and reacts to illnesses differently. Imagine having a child with disabilities and having them around children that have not been vaccinated. With the poor immune system autistic kids have they would be catching every disease possible.

Likewise, some people should not receive vaccinations. These individuals should not receive vaccinations due to their age, health conditions, among other factors. These other conditions are independent depending on the type of vaccination received. “They can range from an individual who cannot swallow, to a pregnant woman, to a person with a life-threatening allergy, to a component in the vaccination” (Hales 543). A small percentage of individuals do not respond to a particular vaccine. ”All states provide medical exemptions, and some state laws also offer exemptions for religious and philosophical reasons” (State Vaccination Requirements). “Some religions even prevent certain parents from vaccinating their children because of their belief that the disease is a naturally occurring thing and humans have no right interfering with it” (Hales 544). However, most state laws establish vaccination requirements for school children. These laws apply to public schools, private schools, and day care centers. “State laws also establish mechanisms for enforcement of school vaccination requirements” (State Vaccination Requirement). “Vaccines save

The new California law requires that all children enrolled in public and private schools for the 2016-2017 school year be up to date on their vaccinations, regardless of their parents ' religious or personal beliefs. Only children with verified medical reasons, such as immunodeficiency disorders, special education students, and home-schooled students are exempt (Shute). No longer will a parent be allowed to put the health of their child and their child 's classmates at risk because of an unfounded fear of vaccination.

Because these children cannot fight off diseases themselves they count on the rest of the population to receive their immunizations to lessen the risk of receiving them. Many states offer exemptions to vaccinations. Many are health related, but some states allow parents to opt out of vaccinating their children based off political beliefs. “The clustering of these exemptions raises concern among public health officials about their potential to generate disease outbreaks that can spread to children in other areas” (Largent,18). An example of this is in Washington State, which is known for its high levels of unvaccinated children. Where a large outbreak of measles took place in 2008 stemming from an unvaccinated child. These concerns about the

Studies have shown that childhood immunizations nonmedical exemptions have been increasing in many states. This issue creates a public treat. With the utmost concern, when a public treat continues to be a challenge for the public health, further actions on the policy level need to be initiated and actively maintained to ensure public safety. Growing concern shows that higher incidents of nonmedical exemptions calls for new and improved health policies that can lower theses occurrences. New and innovative approaches need to be implemented in order to ensure diseases that are preventable by vaccinations do not impose health threat to the public.

This paper examines the controversy surrounding the public health issue of vaccinations in children. Following a careful review of the literature surrounding this issue, the possible reasons for and implications of having a large percentage of the population who remains unvaccinated are discussed. Possible interventions and purposed interventions for resolution of this problem are discussed and conclusions are drawn based on what it learned from the literature.

Some vaccines shouldn 't be required for children because children’s immune systems can deal with most infections naturally. “Furthermore, injecting questionable vaccine ingredients into a child or adult, could fight off the good things in an immune system.(Procon.com)” Little do most people know, that the first vaccine ever produced for smallpox was a complete disaster. In addition, it has been proven that unvaccinated children are generally healthier because vaccinated peers have repeatedly shown that the “unjabbed” are generally less afflicted with allergies, autism, autoimmune dysfunction (ETC). “Scientists contend that numerous studies prove that vaccines may trigger problems like diabetes.(Procon.com)” It 's one thing, to have localized swelling or a temporary fever following vaccinations but, if your child is one of the unfortunate ones who develops

It is hard to imagine that one needs to be immune to most harmful diseases before beginning school in the U.S., and even more so for a child, but the reality. A child before beginning school must have: polio, measles, rubella, smallpox, and whooping cough vaccinations, which those and others are mandatory for a child to have before entering a public school in a majority of the states (“Should any vaccinations be required for children?”). Thus, it is clear that vaccinations are important for a child’s health and that of society as a whole. The California Legislator, for example, on March 31, 2016 “responded smartly to a measles outbreak last year by adopting a law that will ban ‘personal belief’ vaccination exemptions for students starting in July” (The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board). It is within do time that similar actions would be taken by other states who find the actions to hold some advantage. The article continues by stating, “ Gov. Jerry Brown and most state lawmakers held firm, knowing the importance of having nearly everyone vaccinated to maintain ‘herd immunity’ to infectious diseases” (The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board). Hence, soon the opinion of the guardian to not vaccinate their children will be terminated and any belief of why one should not vaccinate the children omitted. The action of making vaccinations mandatory by issuing an ordinance and oppressing the beliefs of the people in any conflicting way is something that is immoral and

In recent years, the vaccine and anti-vaccine issue has hit major headlines. As of July 2016, California law states “Public elementary schools and secondary schools cannot admit children unless they are immunized against 10 diseases: diphtheria, Haemophilus influenzae type b (bacterial meningitis), measles, mumps, pertussis (whooping cough), polio, rubella, tetanus, hepatitis B and chicken pox.” Children with medical conditions such as immune-system deficiencies and allergies, confirmed by a physician, can be excused from immunization. (Perkins) California does not stand alone, all 50 states have some variation of this law. Despite the law, should these vaccines be a requirement to enroll in public school? Vaccines build your body's immune system so that, in the future, it's able to fight against a specific disease. Having children vaccinated early on in their academic careers is beneficial to all of society.

Furthermore, many schools in certain states are changing their rules, but some need a little more work. “ As of March 2008, all states permitted medical exemptions from school immunization requirements, 48 states allowed

Parents should have the exclusive authority to make medical decisions on behalf of their minor children. Informed parents have the responsibility to refuse or discontinue treatments, even those that may be life-sustaining. This right extends to opting-out of vaccinations when in the best interests of the child. Although, these rights are being challenged. In addition, those parents choosing to opt-out of the vaccination program for their children are facing sanctions, ridicule as well as ostracized. A published article in, Pediatrics, confirm what other studies have suggested: “Anti-vaccine sentiment in the United States appears strongest among educated, wealthier white families. All 50 states have legislation requiring specified vaccines for students. Although exemptions vary from state to state, all school immunization laws grant exemptions to children for medical reasons.”